It might feel like a lifetime ago, but back in January, Drake filed a federal lawsuit against UMG for defamation and harassment—a move that made it clear he wasn’t about to take an L silently. Since Drake’s gone on the offensive legally, he’s called out streamers for allegedly fueling the “Not Like Us” campaign, accused UMG of conspiring with streaming platforms to boost “Not Like Us,” and claimed that there was nothing organic about the success of the diss track.
While it seems like he survived the shots fired, the legal drama is far from over. His Texas petition with iHeartRadio was recently dropped after an “amicable” decision, but his war with UMG continues to rage. The two teams are locked in a battle over pretrial meeting start times, evidence, and even Kendrick’s Super Bowl performance—while fans speculate about how UMG might still be profiting from the artist they’re at odds with.
Why is Drake’s team fighting to stay on schedule?
The drama kicked off when rumors spread that Drake’s team might be backing away from some key allegations in their complaint (although no one knows exactly what those allegations are yet). Meanwhile, UMG is out here trying to get Drake’s New York case tossed out once and for all, with a motion due by March 17th.
Enter Rollin A. Ransom, one of UMG’s attorneys, who took matters into their own hands. On February 21st, they wrote to the court, asking Judge Antonio Vargas to push back the April 2nd pretrial meeting. The reason? They needed more time to review Universal’s motion to dismiss and, naturally, the case’s “evolving particulars” (AKA the big details). This delay would also let the judge rule on dismissing the case before the pretrial even starts. Smooth move, Ransom.
But of course, Drake’s team wasn’t about to let that slide. On February 24th, Michael J. Gottlieb, Drake’s attorney, fired off a letter to Judge Vargas, denying any claims of dropping “key allegations.” They shot back, accusing UMG of being terrified of a single allegation that, even if Drake adjusted his lawsuit to meet their demands, would barely change anything.
Drake’s team also demanded UMG get moving with the discovery process—you know, the part where they hand over all the evidence. UMG, however, insists it’s “too premature” to start because they’re hoping the case gets dismissed and there will be no need for discovery.
How is Kendrick Lamar linked to the latest update?
On top of demanding discovery quicker than a Domino’s pizza, Gottlieb also argued that delaying the process is doing further damage to Drake’s reputation. We all remember Kendrick’s Super Bowl performance, right? That giant grin as he called out the Toronto rapper from New Orleans? Well, that was the exact example Gottlieb used to highlight the impact of the delay.
“Delaying discovery would unfairly prejudice [Drake], who is continuing to suffer the consequences of UMG’s defamatory campaign,” he writes. “Indeed, at the same time UMG has been delaying here, UMG launched new campaigns to further spread the defamatory content [“Not Like Us”], including at the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show, which had over 133.5 million viewers,” the attorney wrote.
Underneath all this legal back-and-forth, fans are playing detective, too. Some believe UMG is secretly benefiting from Drake’s new album $ome $exy $ongs 4 U— while in a legal battle with the artist.
Radio personality DJ Hed, shared his theory on The Bigger Picture podcast with Elliot Wilson and Jeremy Hecht: “I see people on both sides of the fence saying ‘well, why would they let him drop music if he’s suing?’ But it would prove their point if they didn’t allow him to drop music. They just want to make money… ecord companies just want to make money. They don’t give a f*** about your cause, they don’t give a f*** about who died, they don’t give a f****. They just want to make money.”
According to them, UMG’s probably cashing in on every solo Drake track on the album, especially the big hits like “Nokia.” DJ Hed made it clear: “Drake is not independent, for all you streaming morons.”
Whether you are team UMG, team Drake, or team Kendrick, this battle feels like it has been going on forever with no end in sight. Nevertheless, the world is still watching and keeping track of who currently has the upper hand.
